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Movies that feel like Midnight Cowboy (1969)

If you loved Midnight Cowboy, the closest films we have are Wendy and Lucy (2008), In a Better World (2010) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). All three share Midnight Cowboy's contemplative and warm feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 8 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Netflix, HBO Max and Hulu and others, checked against today's data.

Joe Buck is a wide-eyed hustler from Texas hoping to score big with wealthy New York City women; he finds a companion in Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo, an ailing swindler with a bum leg and a quixotic fantasy of escaping to Florida.

πŸ… 89% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.8 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. John Schlesingercontemplativewarm
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If Midnight Cowboy hit the spot, these will too

Wendy and Lucy poster
Wendy and Lucy
2008 Β· dir. Kelly Reichardt
πŸ… 85%β˜… 7.1drama

The same two preoccupations: friendship, and homelessness

The difference: Made in the 2000s, in a different era of the craft

A near-penniless drifter's journey to Alaska in search of work is interrupted when she loses her dog while attempting to shoplift food for it.

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In a Better World poster
In a Better World
2010 Β· dir. Susanne Bier
πŸ… 77%β˜… 7.6drama

Both keep coming back to the same thing: friendship

The lives of two Danish families cross each other, and an extraordinary but risky friendship comes into bud. But loneliness, frailty and sorrow lie in wait.

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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest poster
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1975 Β· dir. MiloΕ‘ Forman
πŸ… 92%β˜… 8.6drama

Contemplative where it counts, warm underneath

A petty criminal fakes insanity to serve his sentence in a mental ward rather than prison. He soon finds himself as a leader to the other patientsβ€”and an enemy to the cruel, domineering nurse who runs the ward.

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Remember the Titans poster
Remember the Titans
2000 Β· dir. Boaz Yakin
πŸ… 72%β˜… 7.8drama

Drama built on stillness, twice over

After leading his football team to 15 winning seasons, coach Bill Yoast is demoted and replaced by Herman Boone – tough, opinionated and as different from the beloved Yoast as he could be. The two men learn to overcome their differences and turn a group of hostile young men into champions.

Feels alike?
Dersu Uzala poster
Dersu Uzala
1975 Β· dir. Akira Kurosawa
πŸ… 73%β˜… 8.2adventure Β· drama

Both lean on warmth more than on drama

The difference: Leans harder into adventure than Midnight Cowboy does

A military explorer meets and befriends a Goldi man in Russia’s unmapped forests. A deep and abiding bond evolves between the two men, one civilized in the usual sense, the other at home in the glacial Siberian woods.

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Rocky V poster
Rocky V
1990 Β· dir. John G. Avildsen
πŸ… 31%β˜… 5.4drama

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

The difference: Reviewed a good deal more coolly

A lifetime of taking shots has ended Rocky’s career, and a crooked accountant has left him broke. Inspired by the memory of his trainer, however, Rocky finds glory in training and takes on an up-and-coming boxer.

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Jules and Jim poster
Jules and Jim
1962 Β· dir. FranΓ§ois Truffaut
πŸ… 94%β˜… 7.7drama Β· romance

One thread runs through both: prostitute

The difference: Sits closer to romance than Midnight Cowboy does

In the carefree days before World War I, introverted Austrian author Jules strikes up a friendship with the exuberant Frenchman Jim and both men fall for the impulsive and beautiful Catherine.

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Girl, Interrupted poster
Girl, Interrupted
1999 Β· dir. James Mangold
πŸ… 53%β˜… 7.3drama

A streak of warmth through both

Set in the changing world of the late 1960s, Susanna Kaysen's prescribed "short rest" from a psychiatrist she had met only once becomes a strange, unknown journey into Alice's Wonderland, where she struggles with the thin line between normal and crazy. Susanna soon realizes how hard it is to get out once she has been committed, and she ultimately has to choose between the world of people who belong inside or the difficult world of reality outside.

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La Haine poster
La Haine
1995 Β· dir. Mathieu Kassovitz
πŸ… 96%β˜… 8.1drama

Drama in the same key

After a chaotic night of rioting in a marginal suburb of Paris, three young friends, Vinz, Hubert and SaΓ―d, wander around unoccupied waiting for news about the state of health of a mutual friend who has been seriously injured when confronting the police.

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Shane poster
Shane
1953 Β· dir. George Stevens
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.6drama Β· western

Both know what they want from drama

A weary gunfighter attempts to settle down with a homestead family, but a smouldering settler and rancher conflict forces him to act.

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Pleasure poster
Pleasure
2021 Β· dir. Ninja Thyberg
πŸ… 88%β˜… 6.3drama

Both are drama through and through

19 year old LinnΓ©a leaves her small town in Sweden and heads for Los Angeles with the aim of becoming the world's next big porn star, but the road to her goal turns out to be bumpier than she imagined.

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The Illusionist poster
The Illusionist
2010 Β· dir. Sylvain Chomet
πŸ… 90%β˜… 7.4animation Β· drama

The same drama instincts

A French illusionist travels to Scotland to work. He meets a young woman in a small village. Their ensuing adventure in Edinburgh changes both their lives forever.

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In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies β†’

The best-reviewed films that share Midnight Cowboy’s defining feeling.